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A Home With Dignity Having The Right to Dream

Maintaining Dignity when you don’t have ownership of your own bathroom that often ‘taken for granted’ amenity becomes a luxury. Sisters provides a home for clean safe facilities. The volunteer chosen to monitor their laboratories one Thursday afternoon was I. My past experience a few decades ago as a patrol monitor in a NY City elementary school never offered the lessons of service with the deepest kind of humility needed to humbly maintain the flow of the use of these truly essential amenities.

I felt fortunate to be suddenly switched to another job requiring no less humbling energy. However, it was a job I was much more familiar with – searching out small plastic numbers hidden amongst coats and enormous piles of belongings on tables and counters where our hungry customers awaited .

Plating and serving nutritious food with the amazing Sisters team- the trustworthy staff and regular and part time volunteers was like working as one . Feeling like we were perfectly integrated. A home encircled embraced by the flow of humanity.

My well intentioned waiter mannerisms didn’t exactly fit with folks who didn’t meet my eyes or often acknowledge my presence. Kindness met an unexpected response of extreme fragility. Sharing the same light and warmth but living on different planets.

During my first tearful introduction to Sisters I was very curious what the meaning of and how Sisters stressed the values of non violence, social justice and a home with dignity.

This is the real story of the Sisters Community.

Learning appropriate ways to care and hold the space to comfortably be inside of one own skin. Learning to how to offer dignity unconditionally.

“You people are like my family. I come here when I need time to be strong. Thank you.” – a Sisters Customer